Statements from La Mesa-Spring Valley school board members

The La Mesa-Spring Valley school board voted 3-2 to prevent teachers from showing President Barack Obama's education speech to students on Tuesday. The three board members issued the following statements later this week:

Statement issued by Rick Winet on Sept. 8:

I appreciate and respect the passion and the opinions expressed by both sides on this topic.

It is my intent to describe in this statement my reasoning behind voting in the majority for the Board Action taken on September 7, 2009.

The La Mesa-Spring Valley School District Board voted 3-to-2 to record the speech and lesson plans provided by the President and the Secretary of Education on September 8, 2009, allow for parent participation, notification, and opt-out, and then have the President's message delivered in the appropriate K-through-8 classes - as determined by the teachers in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District.

My personal objection to the proposed presentation and curriculum by the President and the Secretary of Education centered on 2 areas:

1. This was a direct assault on The Constitution of The United States of America. U.S.C. code 3503 clearly states that Congress prohibits the Executive Branch from overriding local school boards and local branches of government of control of public school curriculum. This Secretary of State, Arne Duncan, issued a politically charged e-mail along with irresponsible “lesson plans” in his initial notice to public schools. The President's “speech” and the Secretary's “lesson plans” were changed and revised no less than twenty times prior to September 8. While many would like compare this presentation to that of prior Presidents Ronald Wilson Reagan and George Herbert Walker Bush, neither of these Presidents included public school curriculum in their communications with students. This administration actually lowered itself to asking students to “write a letter to themselves and ask themselves what they can do to help the President.” I would not and will not ever support this sort of selfish, socialistic message as public school curriculum.

2. The President's speech and lesson plans were, in the end, clearly focused to deliver a message to high school age students. While I concur with most of the contents of this final script, this is not a meaningful message for the great majority of La Mesa-Spring Valley students. We are a K-through-8 school district and, as Board President Halgren clearly stated in her motion on September 7 (which I seconded and Member Duff concurred), this message was not appropriate for a vast majority of our students.

La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board Members have received hundreds of e-mails on this topic. Prior to our Board decision on September 7, a majority of those communications were asking us not to show the President's message live on the morning of September 8. And, in contrast, the majority of e-mails we have received after the Board direction have been critical of the action.

Once again, I understand and respect the passion of each citizen's opinion on this topic.

Our Founders created three branches of government, so that we would have these types of “checks and balances” - It is my opinion that this Executive Branch, at this time, reached beyond its boundaries and a balanced response was required.